Forum:Policies
Policies are fundamental in a successful wiki. It's what gives us the backbone, the support, and the knowledge on how to effectively contribute to a wiki. We have 1 that has been currently written and 3 others that have been mentioned but have not been set up. If this release is today, we will be overwhelmed with contributors no doubt and we need a setup for them to follow. I propose that we either: 1) A Wiki Administrator quickly write up some drafts that can be later discussed once community has further evolved or; 2) We adapt the policies from another wiki and implement them temporarily until we can define our own. 19:02, January 19, 2010 (UTC) :This is something we can do on the run, as the wiki grows. I do agree that basic policies should be created that reflect the broad wiki culture, such as a do not delete discussions policy or assuming good faith. All of this takes time and effort, and somebody willing to do the work. :If you are willing to help with drafting these policies and put them up for the community to poke, prod, change, and manipulate, I'd certainly be willing to add some commentary and help with tweaking some of the concepts in those policies. :We also don't want to get bogged down into minutae quite yet. A policy here with this wiki community should be allowed to breathe and develop over time with the personality of the community. We certainly shouldn't adopt all of the policies that exist on Wikipedia and presume that this is just a Wikipedia clone. This isn't Wikipedia, nor is it the Runescape Wiki either. :For me, I'd like to adopt the basic principles that Jimbo Wales set down for wiki development (see wikipedia:User:Jimbo Wales) ::* Newcomers are always welcome ::* "You can edit this page right now" is a core guiding check on everything that we do. ::* Any changes to the software must be gradual and reversible. This also includes policies when possible, and changes to pages. ::* Free content, such as the CC-by-SA and GFDL, should be maintained. Everything done here should always be compatible with these licenses. ::* Anyone with a complaint should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. :Mr. Wales goes into more detail and adds more things too, but this is a good start. :These are all common sense rules and don't get to dealing with particular issues that often are addressed on a wiki's policy. I, for one, would rather not have another wiki's policies be determining what happens here, but rather discuss those issues with respect and try to understand why those policies were adopted in the first place before they become official here. Often those policies are adopted for reasons that aren't valid here, or are buried in problems of the past that are not now a problem. :Essentially, let's cope with what are problems and keep an open mind that there may be another way to get things done. :Another basic policy premise that we can poke and prod at: wikipedia:Wikipedia:Five_pillars Unfortunately, for me it would be four (this isn't Wikipedia, and we aren't creating an encylopedia) , with the fifth perhaps is that we are about War of Legends. :What might be just as useful as a policy might even be coming up with a mission statement about what this wiki is really all about. I've assumed a mission to this wiki, but I'm not even sure what the charter goal of this wiki is really all about, other than it is something regarding War of Legends. If we need a place to start, perhaps it should be there. A huge problem on the Runescape Wiki is that some of the users think it is Wikipedia: Runescape edition. That really stops experimentation and doing something unique or different. --Robert Horning 19:26, January 19, 2010 (UTC) ::I'll second that. While there are some things I'd like to get pinned down early, it makes a lot of sense to wait until there is a need for a policy before we make it. Quartic ~ insanity is a virtue | Talk 22:33, January 19, 2010 (UTC) :::Same. I also think that our mission is to educate people about everything War of Legends. Have it brought forth in a nice manner and make it easy to read. 23:12, January 19, 2010 (UTC) ---- The RuneScape Wiki, as most are aware, is a very successful wiki. They have many policies to help the contributors and the encyclopedia function to what they full is it's highest potential. I also know that this is not the RuneScape Wiki and it's a great thing to have our own identity. Over the years the RuneScape Wiki has tweaked their policies to fit their best needs and adapted new ones to suit them aswell. As a new wiki, we need some. Here is a list of the Policies we currently have/are working on: *'Assume good faith '- Always assume an editor had good intentions, unless there is a specific reason not to. *'Don't delete discussions '- Discussions in should not be deleted, instead, they should be archived. This includes talk pages and the Legends Pavilion. *'Images and media policy '- *'Style guide '- The preferred way to writing an article. If every article is written the same way, it makes it much easier to read. *'Signatures '- The guidelines for signatures. These need work, but we need more. Here is a list of the policies at the RuneScape Wiki:" *'All editors are equal '- An editor's status, popularity, or in-game experience does not affect how they are treated and how their opinion is "weighed" in a discussion. *'Assume good faith '- Unless there is conclusive evidence to the contrary, always assume that an editor's actions were an attempt to improve the wiki. *'Don't delete discussions '- Don't delete previous discussions. These include user talk pages. *'Don't feed the trolls '- Do not antagonise trolls under any circumstances. It may worsen the situation. *'Gaming the system '- Use common sense. Don't interpret policies and editors word-for-word. *'User block policy '- Blocking is how administrators prevent a user account or IP address from editing the RuneScape Wiki. Blocked users and IP addresses can read all the articles, but cannot edit any pages other than their own talk page. Blocked users are also prevented from moving pages or uploading files. *'User treatment policy '- Be nice and don't try to cause unnecessary strife. *'Copyrights '- Except where otherwise specified, the text on the RuneScape Wiki is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 *'Criteria for speedy deletion '- The speedy deletion policy dictates what should and shouldn't be quickly deleted from this wiki. *'Deletion policy '- Adhere to the deletion policy. Most deletions fall under the Criteria for speedy deletion *'Don't edit userpages '- Under normal circumstances, don't edit someone else's userpage. *'Don't sign articles '- Under no circumstances should you should put your signature on any article. *'Granularity '- Anything notable, excluding players, may have its own article. *'Images and media policy '- The images and media policy describes preferred image source, content, and usage in articles and other pages. It applies to all images equally, regardless of uploader, format, and subject. *'Neutral point of view '- All RuneScape Wiki articles should be written from a neutral point of view. *'Non-existent item policy '- You are allowed to make an article for an item that does not exist. However, there must be some valid proof that shows that the item will be created in the future. The article must clearly indicate that the item does not exist. *'Players don't deserve articles '- Don't make an article about a player or clan. *'Protection policy '- Pages should remain fully editable unless there is considerable cause to warrant protection. *'Quest style guide '- This Quest style guide is a style guide used for the quest pages. *'Redirecting '- A redirect is a page created specifically to take a searcher straight to another article, even without the accurate name. They can be used in a variety of situations to help the users of this wiki. *'Spoiler policy '- Due to the encyclopaedic nature of The RuneScape Wiki, it contains information that may spoil some storylines in the game. There are no warnings anywhere else in the wiki, so viewers should read at their own risk. *'Store Style Guide '- This Store Style guide is an attempt to standardise the information about NPC stores found in the game RuneScape. This is intended to be a guideline only, and not any form of a set policy that absolutely must be adhered to at all time. *'Style guide '- This style guide has the simple purpose of making the RuneScape Wiki easy to read by establishing a certain format. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does things the same way, the articles will be easier to read and use, along with being easier to write and edit. Reading the style guide is important to ensure that each user's edits will be consistent with those of other users. *'Three-revert rule '- Explain the changes you make in the edit summary, use the corresponding talk page, and don't fight with others. *'Bots '- Bots (automated scripts for editing the wiki) must be approved by the community and follow certain guidelines. *'Consensus '- Consensus is about how editors work with others. Consensus is the wiki's fundamental model for decision-making. *'Ignore all rules '- Common sense takes precedence over any policy. Be reasonable. *'Protectsite '- Administrators have the option of enabling a site-wide semi- or sysop only protection for up to 24 hours at a time. *'RuneScape Wiki is not... '- If an edit doesn't look encyclopedic, or is harmful to the community, it may not belong at RSW. *'runescape:RuneScape:Be bold' - If you see that something needs to be fixed or improved on this wiki... be bold and make the changes. *'runescape:RuneScape:Snowball clause' - If something doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell to prevail, the discussion should be closed and should not have been started in the first place. Some of them won't apply to us, such as the protect site as that function is no longer available on new wiki's. I think it would be a great idea to include a majority of these however, around our needs. Let's make a list of the ones we want to copy (exactly), the ones we want to keep but change for our needs, and the ones we don't want at all. We should also include some new ideas that we may have. I understand some may be opposed or question the sudden need for policies, but I think it will be for our betterment. The RuneScape Wiki developed these over several years and they are a thriving community. I say we hit the WOL Fansite hard and show them we already have a backbone and are a vital source for developing information. The above list isn't at all to be intimidating either. I know what you guys are looking for so I'm just offering the options we can choose from for now. I don't at all expect or want a lot of these myself, but that's for the community to decide which ones they will be. 15:22, January 21, 2010 (UTC) :I'm thinking that the granularity policy on the RS Wiki is one that we need to push to establish sooner than later here, as we are already bumping up against that as an issue. It has also come up with many discussions that I've been involved with on the RS Wiki, which makes it something very relevant. BTW, thanks for compiling this list. I fixed up the links to provide inter-wiki links that would work and get at the actual policy pages, but this list and short synopsis of each policy is well done! --Robert Horning 17:27, January 21, 2010 (UTC) ::To provide an alternative point of view - the FunOrb Wiki actually doesn't have many policies at all, but I would also call it a success. It may not be as big as the RuneScape Wiki, but that's because it's newer and for a less popular subject. I'm not against policies when they're needed, but I am against making policies just for the sake of making policies, which feels like the opinion of some of the people here. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) ::As for granularity, I'm not convinced of it's worth as implemented on the RuneScape Wiki. When I look there, it feels like the information is scattered all over the place in small pieces, making it difficult to find what you wish to. What I would support is a policy that everything should be covered somewhere on the wiki, but not necessarily on it's own tiny page. Quartic ~ insanity is a virtue | Talk 18:27, January 21, 2010 (UTC)